The ECU School of Dental Medicine is part of an educational institution and is serving its mission to both educate dental students and dental residents and provide dental care for the public. The school offers dental clinics both at ECU and in rural communities in North Carolina.

ECU Clinics

School of Dental Medicine student and resident clinics are accepting new patients. Please call 252-737-7834 to learn more or to make an appointment.

ECU School of Dental Medicine Community Service Learning Centers are open in the both Ahoskie and Elizabeth City. Faculty dentists, dental residents, and dental hygienists are providing high quality, state-of-the-art care to adult, pediatric, and special needs patients. Fourth-year students will join CSLC oral health professionals in 2014.

Community Services Learning Centers in Sylva and Lillington are currently under construction and expected to be operational in early 2014. Centers in both Spruce Pine and Davidson County are scheduled for completion in late summer 2014.

To schedule an appointment at Ahoskie or Elizabeth City CSLCs, please call the numbers below.

Dr. Linda May, assistant professor at the ECU School of Dental Medicine, teaches anatomy to dental students. Dr. May is conducting research on the connection between exercise during pregnancy and development of the baby.

To qualify to be part of the research, you must be:

- between 18 and 40 years of age

- 16 weeks pregnant or less

- 300 pounds or less

- able to be active

- willing to come in 3 times per week during your pregnancy

Dr. May and fellow researchers will be your trainers during your pregnancy. Follow the link to Dr. May’s previous research presented in the New York Times:

This week, we’ve enjoyed kicking off the summer season – and the launch of our new ECU Division of Health Sciences Twitter and LinkedIn pages – by participating in National Sun Safety Week. It’s a topic that hits home for all of the schools and colleges within our division, as sun damage can affect all parts of the body.

Our research-based tweet tips are a good place to start for those of us who need a sun safety refresher course heading into the warmest months of the year. But protecting your skin from harmful rays can be just as much about what not to do. With that in mind, here are four ways some sun worshippers get burned:

1) Skipping sunscreen on overcast or cloudy days. A common misconception is that the risk of sunburn on cloudy days is less, but the sun’s damaging UV light can pass through clouds (in fact, up to 40% of UV radiation reaches earth on a completely cloudy day!). So, don’t let the weather be what determines your SPF use; wear it no matter the forecast.

2) Putting off dermatology check-ups. While skin cancer is by far the most common type of cancer, it is also one of the most treatable. The key is to get checked regularly – especially if you fall into any of these high-risk categories.

3) Neglecting to reapply. Many times, we think we’re covered by lathering up with sunscreen once. Not true, says the American Academy of Dermatology: sunscreen should be applied every 2 hours and/or after swimming or sweating heavily, perhaps after a rigorous game of beach volleyball. Keep that sunscreen bottle by your bag, rather than buried at the bottom of it.

4) Assuming the sun can’t find you in certain places, times or by wearing “protective” covering. We often think about getting sunburned in the obvious places and ways: usually, on the beach, in a bathing suit, on a hot summer day. While that’s certainly a high-risk setting for overexposure, UV rays can also hit us in everyday places we don’t think about: in the car, through our clothes, and in mountainous or wooded areas. The lesson: use sunscreen liberally no matter the time, place – or outfit.

Keep sun safety in mind all year round and you’ll ward off skin cancer – and be able to enjoy the warm summer weather that much more.

The ECU School of Dental Medicine recently celebrated its designation as an Apple Distinguished Program. Pictured with Assistant Dean Dr. Todd Watkins, third from left, and Dean Greg Chadwick, third from the right, are dental students, left to right, Vivek Thanawala, Diana Luckhardt, Isaac Morton, Loren Moles and Barry Price. (Photo by Cliff Hollis).

Apple executives from North Carolina visited the School of Dental Medicine in April to celebrate the school’s designation as an Apple Distinguished Program for 2012-2013 with students, faculty and staff.

The Apple Distinguished Program title is reserved for programs that meet criteria for innovation, leadership and educational excellence and demonstrate Apple’s vision of exemplary learning environments. The school uses innovative technology in all aspects of its teaching, problem-solving and clinical education programs.

The School of Dental Medicine has created an environment with 31 rooms and clinical spaces connected by video teleconferencing, integrated seminar rooms, and simulation labs in Ledyard E. Ross Hall on campus and at community-based centers in rural parts of North Carolina.

Dental faculty and residents currently treat patients at ECU Community Service Learning Centers in Ahoskie and Elizabeth City. Eight more centers will be built in North Carolina in the near future. “Within the next two years, we’ll be placing fourth year students in underserved areas across the state to help improve oral health,” said Dr. Greg Chadwick, dean of the ECU School of Dental Medicine. “This concept is resting upon connectivity through these technologies.”

While at ECU, Dr. Sarah Farrell, development executive Apple Education, recognized Dr. R. Todd Watkins as a member of the 2013 Class of Apple Distinguished Educators. Watkins, assistant dean for dental education and informatics and the first faculty member hired by the school, was given the task of developing and implementing a new vision for health science curriculum, which involves an emphasis on problem-solving and critical thinking.

The Apple Distinguished Educator Program began in 1994. Today it has grown into a worldwide community of visionary educators and innovative leaders who are doing amazing things with technology in and out of the classroom. Apple describes its distinguished educators as “part of a global community of education leaders” who “explore new ideas, seek new paths, and embrace new opportunities.”

As part of the program, Watkins will meet with other educators from around the world to discuss trends and technologies at a conference in Austin, Texas, in July.

The Oral Cancer Foundation estimates that close to 42,000 Americans will be diagnosed with oral or pharyngeal cancer this year. It will cause over 8,000 deaths, killing roughly one person per hour, 24 hours per day. Pitt County has the seventh highest death rate due to cancer of the oral cavity and pharynx among North Carolina’s 100 counties.

The American Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons says: “While smoking and heavy drinking are still major risk factors, the fastest growing segment of oral cancer patients is young, healthy, nonsmoking individuals under the age of 40. Recent research has identified the human papilloma virus version 16 as being sexually transmitted between partners and related to the increasing incidence of oral cancer in young non-smoking patients.

There are also links to young men and women who use conventional “smokeless” chewing or spit tobacco. Promoted by some as a safer alternative to smoking, this form of tobacco use is actually no safer when it comes to oral cancers.

Other factors that may promote oral cancer include physical trauma, infectious disease, poor oral hygiene and poor nutrition; however, the research regarding their involvement is uncertain. It is likely that there is a complex interaction of many external and internal factors that play a role in the development of oral cancer.”

The American Dental Association and the Oral Cancer Foundation encourage people to take part in Oral Cancer Awareness Month by visiting a dentist for an oral cancer screening.

Free Screenings

ECU School of Dental Medicine faculty and students will conduct free oral cancer screenings 12:30-2:30 p.m., Saturday, April 6 at the Clark-LeClair Stadium Gate #2 during the home baseball game. The stadium is located on Charles Boulevard just south of Greenville Boulevard in Greenville.

There also are several income-based dental clinics in the vicinity of ECU that provide cancer screenings such as the Bernstein Community Health Center in Greenville, 252-695-6355; Kinston Community Health Center, 252-522-9800; and the Greene County Dental Clinic, 252-747-8181. Additionally, N.C. Missions of Mercy dental clinics provide screenings and treatments without cost; visit www.ncdental.org/ncds/NCMOM.asp.